Tag Archives: national health care

Glucose Test Results Have Been High

Day by Day with a Movement Disorder Posted on by  

I’ve been very discouraged lately by a large number of glucose test readings coming out higher than my doctor wants me to have. The frustration comes, because I really can’t pinpoint anything I’m doing or not doing that is causing the higher than normal readings. I even checked the meter to be sure it was working correctly. My fasting tests first thing in the morning, as well as tests during the day, have been high more often than not for quite a few days this month, and almost every time for the last week.

I put in a call to my doctor’s office, but their system doesn’t give me a chance to speak to his nurse. I get put straight to voice mail, and then she usually answers the next day. I really don’t like that system. I end up staying close to the phone for way too long, and then, like Friday, I’m not home when she calls back. She said she didn’t understand what I wanted, so my message was a complete waste of time. That’s certainly adding to my frustration. I was impressed with the doctor, but I’m sure not impressed with his office system.

I’ll call the office again tomorrow and try to get an appointment, since trying to deal with it over the phone is so difficult. He may say there’s nothing to be concerned about, or he may want to change my prescription to a higher dose or add a different med. All I can do is wait until tomorrow and hope I can actually speak to his nurse. Otherwise, I make an appointment for no telling when.

This is bad enough. I hate to even imagine how frustrated I would be if President Obama gets his way, and we have nationalized health care!! I’ve written my Representative and Congressman expressing my concerns about the quality of care available under a universal health care system. There was a story on the news not long ago about the VA not properly handling colonoscopy equipment and causing 28 people to contract HIV or hepatitis, or both!!! The VA is a perfect example of what national health care would be like, except it would be worse!!!

I’m continuing to log in everything I eat, and I’m managing to stay pretty close to 1200 calories a day, plus exercising, so the weight continues to ever so slowly drop off. I estimate I’m losing a little less than a pound a week, which hopefully means I will find it easier to keep it off. It might even mean a little less flabby skin when I finally lose the 50 pounds I have set as my goal for next summer. I’ve lost 17 so far, and I’m very pleased with that.

Blue Funk Is Now Fading

Day by Day with a Movement Disorder Posted on by  

I don’t seem to be quite as depressed as I was a few days ago, thank goodness. The money part of the estate is finally taken care of, so the only thing left to do is sell Daddy’s car and finish emptying the house of all the furniture and stuff that our DD’s don’t want. I say “only” like that’s not a big deal, but there’s a bunch of stuff to get out of our older DD’s way. We did bring Daddy’s car down to our house yesterday, so at least they can move things out to the garage now that are in their way. We didn’t want to do that while all the construction delivery trucks and workers’ vehicles were going in and out of our yard.

We put Thompson’s Water Seal on the garage floor day before yesterday, and it soaked it up like a sponge. We have to wait until tomorrow for it to be cured, but from the looks of it, we’ll have to put another coat on it before we put anything in the garage. Not that we can use it yet, anyway, as only half of it has been roofed. We’re waiting for the other special order to come, since the builder didn’t order enough of the starter strips for this particular type of shingle. It seems this pattern takes two rows, instead of the standard one, so we have half a roof at the moment. LOL

So many delays have happened with this garage that what would have had me in tears a week ago is now just funny. They don’t get paid until we’re satisfied, so it’s to their advantage to not make all these time consuming mistakes. Go figure.

We bought a pair of trekking poles the other day, as an experiment. The one piece ones are supposed to be better, according to all I could find on the Internet. But it made more sense to try out a cheaper set of adjustable ones that both of us could use at different times, until we see if we like it. Using the walking poles is supposed to be a way to protect the knee, ankle, and hip joints, plus give the upper body a complete workout while you walk. And they are recommended as an excellent exercise tool for PWP.

We’re practicing around the house right now. I’m not sure I am going to be able to use the best possible form with them, as it’s kind of confusing. It involves holding them with a strap around your wrist and then letting go of the grip when the pole goes back, as you grip the other pole as you walk. Trying to keep my feet coordinated with the poles, plus remembering what my hands are doing, all at the same time, is very confusing. But I can definitely hold onto both poles all the time and do them OK. I can already tell that they are going to increase the exercise my upper arms and shoulders get. I’ve been walking with one pound weights every other lap now, for some time, in anticipation of trying these poles. I hope that means I’m ready for them, but I’m in no hurry to try to walk very far with them right now. I’ve learned that slow and easy works better for me.

We managed to salvage enough leftover sheathing and scrap 2×4’s to have a good start on finishing off one inside wall of the garage, plus make some shelving, plus there is a good bit of the siding left over that they were going to take to the dump. We kept that, too, in case we ever have storm damage. I’ve been walking around outside the last few days with one of those magnets on a pole, picking up nails. No telling how long it will take for us to find all of them. With the drought we’re having, it’s not as if we need to be worrying about using the lawn mower in that part of the yard for awhile, so we should have it cleaned up before we need to be concerned with cutting the grass safely. As for cars, we’re still not using the new part of the driveway or going near the garage. Tearing up a tire is just not worth it.

We’re making slow headway with our eBay sales, with over 250 items listed now, so I’m hopeful that I can get back to enjoying reading everybody’s blogs soon. I did manage to skim through Ruth’s blog to see how things were going with her since Mick passed away, and I’m sorry to see that she’s had one problem after another, due to the red tape of their national health care system. The more I read what Marion and Ruth have to say about socialized medicine, the surer I become that I pray we never get it in the USA!!

Since I’m writing this at 2 AM I think it’s safe to say the insomnia is still going strong. I went to bed about 9:30PM, but I was wide awake by 12:30. I tried going back to sleep about 3:00, but didn’t succeed, so I’ve been up since 3:30 with 3 hours sleep for the night. Counting the days until I see that sleep specialist!!